This blog contains a series of movie segments to be used to brainstorm, warm up, follow up, and activate schemata, preparing the students for the topic that will be discussed in class. Here you will find the segments, the lesson plans, and varied topics to foster conversation. You may use the activities for a full two-hour class or they can be used separately to brainstorm or wrap up the topic, focusing on conversation, vocabulary and listening comprehension.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Coco Chanel is a movie made for television, but Shirley MacLaine's performance is fantastic. It is a fairly good movie, but Zoolander is a comedy for those who like Ben Stiller. We usually have classes about models and fashion, so these segments are great tools for your classes.

A. Discuss these questions about models and fashion shows.

1. Do you follow the fashion trends? How do you do it or why don't you do it?

2. What's your opinion about the fashion industry?

3. Do you know any famous fashion designers? Talk about the ones you know and your opinion about them.

4. What's your opinion about fashion shows? Are they important or useless? Explain it?

5. What's your opinion about fashion models? Are they examples of beauty?

6. Many people think that models are not healthy. Do you agree with them? Does it apply to male models too?

7. Why do female models make much more money than male models?

8. What do you consider important in a fashion show? What does a designer have to take into consideration when planning one?

9. Have you ever been to a fashion show? Talk about it.

10. What's your opinion about the clothes you see in a fashion show? Are they wearable? Are they supposed to be wearable or is it just an expression of the designer's creativity and trends?

B. Take a look at what a few steps a designer has to consider while planning a show.

1. Choose an inspired theme for the show

2. The environment should reflect the central theme of the clothing line featured

3. Consider lighting effects, seating for guests, and enough space for the catwalk.

4. Music is a must, from classical to funk, but it should reflect the theme of the clothing

5. Models should be selected with care so that they merge with the theme and the clothes or any fashionables they display

6. Models should plan a small choreography that goes along the theme for the day. Models should be given enough time to present themselves individually and finally make a presentation together.

C. Work in small groups. Watch the segment from the movie Coco Chanel. This fashion show took place in 1950, so it was a long time ago. Check how or if the fashion show addresses the items in exercise B. Use examples to illustrate your opinions.

D. Now read the tips for posing for pictures: Information provided by the great modeling site Jurgita

1. Don't hold your breath for a pose. The concentration usually shows in the picture.

2. Don't keep both arms entirely straight unless directed to do so for a specific pose. Bend one or both arms, even if only a little, to make the pose look less artificial. Likewise, don't keep both legs entirely straight.

3. Don't always look straight at the camera. Instead, use a variety of head and eye positions: Try turning your head, or looking off to the side for some poses.

4. Don't use a big smile for every pose. Sometimes try a small smile, a laugh, or even a frown, to give some variety to your facial expressions.

5. Listen to what the photographer tells you. He can see you through the camera.

6. Rest most of your weight on one foot or the other instead of evenly on both feet. Doing so makes poses look less artificial.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

I was invited to open the new edition of the Brasilia BRAZ-tesol Chapter, an invitation that made me very honored. I will share my endeavour as a practically computer illiterate just about two years ago to the professional I have become after I started blogging and the benefits from doing so. I tell you, If I have managed to succeed, everyone can. Thanks for your support as readers. Hope to see you at Livraria Cultura, Casa Park, Nov 5th, 2:30 pm!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

There is always space for discussions on body language. These two scenes are perfect to warm the topic up. Besides, they are fun scenes.

A. Read the definition for body language Body language copied from Wikipedia: It is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions and movements. Humans send and interpret such signals subconsciously.

B. Look at the body language below try to perform them, and make guesses of what message it conveys. This information was provided by the informative site S.P.A.R.C.

1. Erect walk: _______

2. Standing with hands on hips: _________

3. Sitting with legs crossed, foot kicking slightly: _______

4. Sitting legs apart: ______

5. Arms crossed on chest: ______

6. Hand to cheek: _______

7. Rubbing hands: _______

8. Biting nails: ________

9. Drumming fingers: _______

10. Slightly rubbing nose: _______

Answers will vary from culture to culture, but these are the expected answers.

1. Confidence

2. Aggression or readiness

3. Boredom

4. Relaxation

5. Defensiveness, distance

6. Thinking, evaluating

7. Anticipation

8. Insecurity

9. Impatience

10. Lying

C. Watch the segment from the movie Save the Last Dance and answer the following questions about body language.

1. What does he say about hip-hop?

2. What does she have to do in order to be a good hip-hop dancer?

3. What's the body language she has to make use of in order to convey to the hip hop attitude? List
everything suggested.

4. Decide the purpose of the suggestions given in exercise 3.

D. Now watch the segment from the movie She's the Man. The girl has to join a male soccer team without their noticing she is a girl. Watch the movie segment and discuss the following questions.

1. What did she do to physically look like a boy? Will it be effective?

2. What did she do to learn to act like a man?

3. What body language did she make use of in order to fool the soccer team's boys? Do you think she will be successful?

Saturday, October 9, 2010

A. Work in pairs and try to complete this monologue taken from the movie "Fame". Try to fill in the blanks with what you think this sixteen-year-old student believes success is. You may use one word or sentences to fill in the blanks.

"Success is waking up in the morning, so excited about what you have to do to literally fly out the door. It’s getting to work with people you ___________.
Success is connecting with the world and making people _________.
It’s finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a ______.
It’s falling asleep at night knowing you ____________.
Success is _____and ______and ________. And success is _______."

B. Now watch the movie segment and check your guesses.

answer key: love, feel, dream, did the best job you could, joy, freedom, friendship, love.
C. Work in pairs:

1. What is your definition of success?

2. Are success and fame the same things?

3. You you have fame, are you successful?

4. Do you agree with the statement from the movie segment from the film "Fame"? Why (not)?

5. Check the items you agree with when you talk about success. Justify your answers.

( ) Success is the accomplishment of an objective

( ) Success is wealth, fame, position.

( ) You can have success even if you do not make money out of it.

( ) If one is not rich, he is not successful.

( ) To have fifteen minutes of fame is to be successful.

( ) Success is not important in our lives.

( ) Being famous means being successful.

( ) Never getting divorced is success.

( ) Being promoted is success.

D. Read these quotations about success. In groups decide what they actually mean and if you agree with them. These quotations were taken from the awesome sight Success Quotes. In the end, choose your favorite one and the one you disagree with most.

1. "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing". (Abraham Lincoln, politician)

2. "Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value". (Albert Einstein, physicist)

3. "To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded". (Bessie Stanley, writer)

4. "The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success". (Bruce Ferstein, screenwriter and humorist)

5. "Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed". (Corita Kent, painter)

6. "I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and a devotion to the things you want to see happen". (Frank Lloyd Wright, architect)

7. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up". (Thomas Alva Edison, inventor)

8. "You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments,

or publicity". (Thomas Wolfe, journalist)

9. "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm". (Winston Curchil, politician)

10. "The success of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers". (William lloyd Garrison, abolitionist)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

These are great movies that talk about stereotypes. An American Carol can be full of touchy points of view, so make sure your audience will deal with it well.

A. Read some definitions of stereotypes. Work with a partner and think about at least three examples for each piece of information of the definitions. These definitions were taken from the excellent site The English Department

1. A simplified and fixed image of all members of a culture or group (based on race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender, national origins).

2. Generalizations about people that are based on limited, sometimes inaccurate, information (from such sources as television, cartoons or comic books, minimal contact with one or more members of the group, second-hand information)

3. Initial predictions about strangers based on incomplete information about their culture, race, religion, or ethnicity

4. A single statement or attitude about a group of people that does not recognize the complex, multidimensional nature of human beings

5. Broad categories about people that fail to differentiate among individuals, peoples, and societies.

B. Work in small groups. Discuss these items and decide whether they are true or false.

1. ( ) Stereotypes can be positive or negative.

2. ( ) They are all unfair and misleading.

3. ( ) They reduce individuals to an inflexible image.

4. ( ) Human beings are unique and complex, so no one should be stereotyped.

5. ( ) They dehumanize people because they place all members of a group in one simple category.

6. ( ) Stereotypes can be true.

7. ( ) You can know a lot about a people if you know their stereotypes.

8. ( ) Stereotypes are not necessarily true, but there is a lot of reality in them.

C. Share your opinions with the class.

D. Match the words about stereotypes with their definitions:

1. alienation

2. attitude of superiority

3. discrimination

4. ethnocentrism

5. intolerance

6. prejudice

7. racism

8. scapegoat

9. traits

10. xenophobia

( ) a belief that one is better than others are ( ) fear or dislike of foreigners or strangers ( ) a feeling of being separate or not belonging ( ) special treatment (good or bad) based or race, religion, physical appearance, age or social class ( ) lack of kindness or understanding toward people who are different ( ) belief that one's own group (country, race or culture) is better than other ( ) characteristics, features ( ) A person or group who is given the blame for the mistakes or failures of others ( ) Belief that an ethnic group is superior or inferior than other groups ( ) A negative, unfair opinion about a person or group of people based on limited information or experience

Answer key: 2, 10, 1, 3, 5, 4, 9, 8, 7, 6

E. Watch the first segment from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and discuss the folowing questions:

1. What are the stereotyped information the main character gives about the Greek people concerning these issues:

a. People

b. Families

c. Food

d. Marriages

e. Dating relationships

F. Now watch the segment from the movie My Life in Ruins and identify the stereotyped information given about the following group of people:

a. Australians

b. Americans

c. Canadians

G. Watch the third segment from the movie An American Carol and identify the director's steretotyped view of the following issues:

-a. Arabs:

- Political beliefs

- Marriages -

- Their view about Americans

- Clothing

b. Mexicans:

c. Cubans:

H. Class discussion:

1. Do you consider all the stereotypes depicted in the segments offensive? If not, which ones do you consider offensive? Explain it.

2. Why were these peoples pictured that way? Is there any truth about them?

3. How are Brazilians (or your nationality) stereotyped by other people? Make a list of examples.

4. Are any of them true? Explain it.

5. How do you feel about the stereotypes attributed to Brazilians (or your nationality)?

MY OTHER BLOG

Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals

About Me

I'm a teacher at Casa Thomas Jefferson, Brasilia, Brazil. I'm a Branch Coordinator and Teacher Trainer as well. I really like movies and seeing them with "different" eyes, trying to see how I can use them in my classroom. Recently, I have dedicated my ideas to grammar activities with movie segments because, apparently, teachers use movies for many purposes, but grammar. Working with movie segments fosters students' production and interest. I truly believe that grammar exercises should be attractive. I have just developed a new blog for movie segments to enhance topic based classes, focusing on conversation, listening comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. If you have suggestions for the blogs and the activities, just say it!

Casa Thomas Jefferson

O Inglês Como Deve Ser

Welcome

The main purpose of this blog is to share activities to enhance the teacher's lesson plan. They will not replace the course book, but they will make the lessons more attractive and richer. Share your warm-up activity with movie segments too. You may email it to me at claudioazevedo@thomas.org.br and the activity will be credited to you with a link to your own site if it's the case. Give me suggestions for topics and segments too, please. Isn't sharing just fantastic?